Remember I mentioned the Europe Trip before? Well it all started like this...
Back in September when I started to work on my actual thesis project in the lab, one of my lab mates was like OMG! I'm going to Europe this summer. Then she invite me and another girl from the lab to come. I took a look at the trip iternary/ price (I actually paid much less than what's on the site right now) and all that jazz and when I told my parents about it they kind of forced me to go :P Ok not force because I wanted to go, but they really insisted I did. I did pay for it with my own money though...But yeah I'm going to Europe for a month (May 12th-June 10th). Finally I have decided to make a list of all the cities I will be visiting and all of the things I will be doing there. So here we go:
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Oh the joys of being sick XD
Yes, my last post was a week ago :( Unfortunately I managed to catch some virus and have been stuck in bed for almost a week now. The sad thing I knew I was sick for a while, I had all the symptoms. For about 3 weeks I've been experiencing fatigue and really bad headaches. At first I was like oh maybe I'm just hypoglycemic and need to eat a bit more (I was slowly upping my weekly running mileage). However, food didn't help so I ruled that out. Then it was starting to get harder and harder for me to run, to the point that one week I didn't run more than 10km. I thought maybe I was running too much and too fast so I took a couple of days off of running. Then I felt like I was regaining my strength and got back to running. The headaches continued so my friends starting suggesting that maybe I'm just dehydrated. Tried drinking more water but I don't really think that made much of a difference. I though maybe I'm having headaches from over-studying? Then something happened... I was at the lab Friday evening and I had to wait for an hour between two steps of my experiment and there was no one in the office from my lab (there were from neighbouring labs). I was just so tired that I fell asleep, like I just got knocked out :S That's when I've decided that it's time for me to come back home to my parents for the weekend and just have 2.5 days of solid rest.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Caffeine helps you run???
Did you guys ever know that caffeine can help you with your running? Caffeine helps speed up the metabolism and releases fatty acids into our bloodstream. When you do long distance running, your muscles like to use fatty acids instead of sugar as the fuel because you get much more energy out of them. The release of the fatty acids into the bloodstream takes about 1 hour, so if you drink coffee 1 hour before running there should be more fuel availability for your muscles to take up.
As you all know, a big problem with marathon runners is that they hit a point of glycogen depletion during their run. However, using caffeine provides more of the alternative fuel, the fats, so you have more glycogen to spare and therefore can run a further distance.
By no means am I suggesting to drink coffee before running but this is something cool I learned in metabolism class and thought I should share :P
Do you guys ever notice the effect of coffee on your exercise performance?
As you all know, a big problem with marathon runners is that they hit a point of glycogen depletion during their run. However, using caffeine provides more of the alternative fuel, the fats, so you have more glycogen to spare and therefore can run a further distance.
By no means am I suggesting to drink coffee before running but this is something cool I learned in metabolism class and thought I should share :P
Do you guys ever notice the effect of coffee on your exercise performance?
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Happy St.Patrick's Day :)
Hey everyone :) Hope you all enjoyed St. Patrick's Day, I for sure did :)
I can't believe it! There are only 2.5 weeks of school left and then exam time. So just need to hang in there because the last month of school is always the worst time for students (even worse then exam time). Unfortunately, I've been to busy (AKA not been home all day) to play around with new recipes and have been depleting my freezer storage :P Therefore, I've decided to share an old recipe that I constantly used over the summer whenever I went for hikes and my "exploration" trips :P
I can't believe it! There are only 2.5 weeks of school left and then exam time. So just need to hang in there because the last month of school is always the worst time for students (even worse then exam time). Unfortunately, I've been to busy (AKA not been home all day) to play around with new recipes and have been depleting my freezer storage :P Therefore, I've decided to share an old recipe that I constantly used over the summer whenever I went for hikes and my "exploration" trips :P
Will Hike for Chickpeas Trail Mix Bars
Monday, March 12, 2012
Running and Protein Bars
Yes! I finished my big project this Friday and decided to take all of Saturday off. I started off the day by reading for my own enjoyment (no school related books :P ) and then I went for a run with a friend. We ended up running 10km and it took us about 53 minutes. YaY! Now I know I still have about 8 weeks until my race so I can probably lower that time by quite a bit. For now I'm just aiming to get it under 50 minutes considering this is the first time I'm doing a 10km race :D
Then I met up with some friends and we had a Game of Thrones marathon... Yes... I watch game of thrones and I think it's pretty awesome (really graphic but awesome). Not to mention, we also played twister! Thank goodness I did lots of stretching after running! So a weekend well spent with friends.
Sunday was our synchro water show so my parents ended up coming to visit me and let me tell you they brought me soo much produce 0.0 I literally have 20 apples sitting on my desk right now, buried under a pile of cauliflower, brocolli, and peppers. Not to mention a billion things in the fridge. My desk never looked so cluttered and yet so colourful.
A while back, being a very frugal person I found a coupon for Clif Builder Bars. Then I found out that Whole Foods was having them on sale, so they ended up being like $1 each. Well anyways, I grabbed a peanut butter one and a chocolate one because those were the only two flavours in the store :( In terms of taste I actually liked them because they were not too sweet and were very chewy. I'd say the peanut butter one was my favourite which was surprising knowing that I eat something chocolate every day and am absolutely addicted to it. I'm kind of sad that Whole Foods didn't have the Vanilla Almond and Chocolate Mint flavours but oh well, I was satisfied with what I had.
As for the nutritional value, each of the bars is about 270 calories (which is like what half a meal or a snack) and good 20g of protein. I had these when I went for my 9km and 10km runs because I was completely famished and they seemed to hold me over until my proper meal! Also, there're about 22 grams of sugar per bar which realistically isn't too bad if you compare it to the cheap and unhealthy granola bars and the bar is fortified with a lot of vitamins and minerals. Personally, I am not a super fan of meal replacement foods or protein bars but living a busy student lifestyle after a long run you just want something quick, filling, and relatively nutritious. However, when I'm at home I opt for something like cottage cheese and fruits which is also high protein and sugar but from natural sources.
Do you guys know of any good protein bars that are nutritious yet affordable?
Then I met up with some friends and we had a Game of Thrones marathon... Yes... I watch game of thrones and I think it's pretty awesome (really graphic but awesome). Not to mention, we also played twister! Thank goodness I did lots of stretching after running! So a weekend well spent with friends.
Sunday was our synchro water show so my parents ended up coming to visit me and let me tell you they brought me soo much produce 0.0 I literally have 20 apples sitting on my desk right now, buried under a pile of cauliflower, brocolli, and peppers. Not to mention a billion things in the fridge. My desk never looked so cluttered and yet so colourful.
A while back, being a very frugal person I found a coupon for Clif Builder Bars. Then I found out that Whole Foods was having them on sale, so they ended up being like $1 each. Well anyways, I grabbed a peanut butter one and a chocolate one because those were the only two flavours in the store :( In terms of taste I actually liked them because they were not too sweet and were very chewy. I'd say the peanut butter one was my favourite which was surprising knowing that I eat something chocolate every day and am absolutely addicted to it. I'm kind of sad that Whole Foods didn't have the Vanilla Almond and Chocolate Mint flavours but oh well, I was satisfied with what I had.
As for the nutritional value, each of the bars is about 270 calories (which is like what half a meal or a snack) and good 20g of protein. I had these when I went for my 9km and 10km runs because I was completely famished and they seemed to hold me over until my proper meal! Also, there're about 22 grams of sugar per bar which realistically isn't too bad if you compare it to the cheap and unhealthy granola bars and the bar is fortified with a lot of vitamins and minerals. Personally, I am not a super fan of meal replacement foods or protein bars but living a busy student lifestyle after a long run you just want something quick, filling, and relatively nutritious. However, when I'm at home I opt for something like cottage cheese and fruits which is also high protein and sugar but from natural sources.
Do you guys know of any good protein bars that are nutritious yet affordable?
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Barley a la chocolat!
Rise and shine! It's chocolate for breakfast!
So I had some left over chocolate milk that I really needed to use up and I've been having my muesli all of last week. It was time to change things up... That's where I spotted some barley :P
Speaking of chocolate did I mention that I'm going to France this summer, Switzerland too, and Germany.. and Spain.. Stay tuned and I'll tell you more about it :P
Barley a la chocolat
Ingredients (serves 4)
So I had some left over chocolate milk that I really needed to use up and I've been having my muesli all of last week. It was time to change things up... That's where I spotted some barley :P
Speaking of chocolate did I mention that I'm going to France this summer, Switzerland too, and Germany.. and Spain.. Stay tuned and I'll tell you more about it :P
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 1 cup hulled barley
- 2 ripe bananas
- 2 cups of chocolate milk
- 1 cup of water
- chocolate chips for garnish
- I'm sure some cocoa wouldn't hurt but you'd might want to add some honey to it then
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Buried under a pile of books!
I know I know... my last post was when? Saturday... Ick!
I've been crazy busy with my school work lately which left me with almost absolutely no time in the kitchen. Of course this is where my best friend freezer comes in handy. Right before leaving for reading week I used whatever food I had left to cook something and freeze it down. Well let me just tell you, my chana masala unfroze absolutely fine :) Pasta on the other hand.... not so hot... I'm not sure what it is about it but once I unfroze it, it was all soggy. Anyone ever tried freezing pasta who could help me out? :P I'm guessing I should under cook it a bit before freezing?
By the way the Muesli I made before was awesome and super convenient. Add some in, pour milk, wait for 5ish minutes and consume, very hassle free and so much healthier than those nasty sugary cereals :P
Well I have finally set myself out on a mission to rejoin with the kitchen! Homemade frozen food is convenient but nowhere near as tasty :(
So ok! Chocolate... I've been craving it... So tomorrows breakfast will be something along the lines of chocolate and barley... I'll figure something out. My next big endeavour though is chocolate omelette! I'm really scared about how it will turn out but it will be an awesome Saturday morning treat after a long Friday night of studying. Oh yes! I have a project due 50% of my grade due Friday midnight.
Speaking of the project... I better get back to it :D
~Can't wait till the craziness of school work cools down
~Nadiya
I've been crazy busy with my school work lately which left me with almost absolutely no time in the kitchen. Of course this is where my best friend freezer comes in handy. Right before leaving for reading week I used whatever food I had left to cook something and freeze it down. Well let me just tell you, my chana masala unfroze absolutely fine :) Pasta on the other hand.... not so hot... I'm not sure what it is about it but once I unfroze it, it was all soggy. Anyone ever tried freezing pasta who could help me out? :P I'm guessing I should under cook it a bit before freezing?
By the way the Muesli I made before was awesome and super convenient. Add some in, pour milk, wait for 5ish minutes and consume, very hassle free and so much healthier than those nasty sugary cereals :P
Well I have finally set myself out on a mission to rejoin with the kitchen! Homemade frozen food is convenient but nowhere near as tasty :(
So ok! Chocolate... I've been craving it... So tomorrows breakfast will be something along the lines of chocolate and barley... I'll figure something out. My next big endeavour though is chocolate omelette! I'm really scared about how it will turn out but it will be an awesome Saturday morning treat after a long Friday night of studying. Oh yes! I have a project due 50% of my grade due Friday midnight.
Speaking of the project... I better get back to it :D
~Can't wait till the craziness of school work cools down
~Nadiya
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Who said eggs can't be sweet?
I actually cooked this last weekend because me and my mom made a delicious German Chocolate Cake for her birthday which left me with 3 egg whites. Let's just say the cake involved using up 1lb of butter so I wasn't too hungry the next morning and wanted a really light breakfast. Looking in the fridge I was like hmmm... egg whites... strawberries... hmmm...??? So I decided to microwave the egg whites with a bit of milk and scramble them up, top the up with cut up strawberries, drizzle some honey, some cocoa, roll it up with a wrap or crepe et voila!
 |
| Hmm Yummm... I know my purse is kind of randomly there... |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)